Julianne Moore joins cast of ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay’

CEBU, Philippines - Actress Julianne Moore will be dipping her toes into the young adult film universe with a key role in the two-part final installment of “The Hunger Games,” the film franchise’s distributor Lionsgate recently announced.

Oscar-nominated actress Moore, 52, will play President Alma Coin in “Mockingjay” parts 1 and 2. Coin is the leader of District 13, the rebel alliance against the dictatorship running the fictional capital city Panem in the novel’s dystopian future setting. But as “Hunger Games” enthusiasts know, Coin’s lust for power and ruthlessness comes into conflict with the film’s heroine.

Moore will star alongside Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, who plays heroine Katniss Everdeen, a young girl who becomes a symbol of hope for a repressed society after winning a life-or-death televised survival competition.

Moore has been nominated for four Oscars including her role in 2002’s “The Hours.”

The latest casting news comes on the heels of the announcement that Ashlee Simpson’s boyfriend Evan Ross has signed on to “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” Parts 1 and 2 as Marsella. Stef Dawnson also recently joined the star-studded cast and is set to play Annie Cresta — the victor from District 4 and love interest of fellow victor Finnick Odair. And “Game of  Thrones” actress Natalie Dormer will be featured in the franchise as Cressida, the resident director from the Capitol who joins the Districts’ revolt.

The “Mockingjay” films are scheduled to be released in November 2014 and November 2015.

“The Hunger Games,” based on the first of a trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, grossed more than $400 million in the North American box office when it was released last year, and has catapulted its young stars into the avidly followed young adult fiction spotlight. The second film, “Catching Fire,” will be released on November 22 in theaters. (FREEMAN)